Cunningham assisted on David Ferreira's 49th-minute score, then
put Dallas ahead for good in the 82nd minute of a 2-1 victory
against the San Jose Earthquakes.

With a fourth win in its last five matches, Dallas (10-12-6)
moved past idle Real Salt Lake and Toronto FC in the standings.
Dallas is now two points off the pace for final playoff berth
and has two remaining matches, both against higher-ranked teams
it hopes to pass - Colorado and Seattle.

"We still have a little bit of breath in us to dream about a
playoff opportunity," Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman said. "I
wouldn't want to be the team that plays FC Dallas if we're in
the playoffs."

San Jose rookie Quincy Amarikwa scored his first MLS goal in the
73rd minute to force a tie, and the match featured end-to-end
action thereafter. Dallas threw waves of players forward in
search of the go-ahead score, and once they had it, the
Earthquakes (7-13-7) responded in kind.

San Jose put all 11 men in the box for an injury-time corner
kick from Shea Salinas. His high cross found the head of San
Jose goalkeeper Joe Cannon just as his opposite number, Dallas'
Dario Sala, tried in vain to punch the ball away. But Dallas
defender Jair Benitez cleared Cannon's attempt off the line to
preserve the win.

"(Benitez) is a good player you don't really take notice of,"
Cunningham said. "Tonight, you see his importance on the end
line for us."

Cunningham, who has scored five times in Dallas' last four
matches to pass Colorado's Conor Casey for the league lead,
enjoyed one of his easiest goals of this season Wednesday. He
slotted the ball into an empty net after Dax McCarty - set free
for a 2-on-1 break by a nice pass from Ferreira - slid the ball
past a charging Cannon.

The Cunningham-Ferreira connection had worked in the other
direction to put Dallas ahead early in the second half. Heath
Pearce's pass was redirected from Cunningham to the feet of
Ferreira, who dribbled past Cannon and scored with ease.

"The two of them have really been on the same page," Hyndman
said.

Cunningham was turned away twice in the first half. In the ninth
minute, he got behind the Earthquakes defense and rolled a shot
past Cannon, but San Jose defender Brandon McDonald swept the
ball off the line to save the goal. McDonald came up big again a
minute later, blocking a Cunningham drive from inside the
penalty box.

San Jose took control for the final 15 minutes of the first half
and forced Sala to make two reaction saves. Sala used a
right-footed kick save to turn aside a strong volley from
Salinas in the 39th minute, then two minutes later got his lower
body in the way of a flying header from Chris Wondolowski.

Sala made another critical stop in the second half, sprawling to
his left in the 53rd minute to deflect a low shot stung from the
top of the penalty box by a wide-open Antonio Ribeiro.

The last-place Earthquakes were officially eliminated from
playoff contention with the defeat.

Dallas, meanwhile, fights on.

"We're playing hard, playing for each other," Cunningham said.
"We still have the belief."